discrepancy
noun
dis·crep·an·cy
di-ˈskre-pən-sē 
plural discrepancies
1
: the quality or state of disagreeing or being at variance
2
: an instance of disagreeing or being at variance
Examples of discrepancy in a Sentence
Dr. Derman, who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs and became managing director, was a forerunner of the many physicists and other scientists who have flooded Wall Street in recent years, moving from a world in which a discrepancy of a few percentage points in a measurement can mean a Nobel Prize or unending mockery to a world in which a few percent one way can land you in jail and a few percent the other way can win you your own private Caribbean island.
—
Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2009
Why the difference? Why are some individuals so outwardly altered by time and others not? Or, in other words, why is there often a discrepancy between chronological age and biological age?
—Time, 17 Oct. 2005
If an article is on one machine but not the other, a copy is made to eliminate the discrepancy.
—Simson Garfinkel, Technology Review, November 2001
The discrepancy can't be written off simply as lack of data, because it shows up in one of the best-studied periods in Earth's history …
—Tim Appenzeller, Science, 12 Feb. 1993
Discrepancies in the firm's financial statements led to an investigation.
There were discrepancies between their accounts of the accident.
Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2009
Why the difference? Why are some individuals so outwardly altered by time and others not? Or, in other words, why is there often a discrepancy between chronological age and biological age?
—Time, 17 Oct. 2005
If an article is on one machine but not the other, a copy is made to eliminate the discrepancy.
—Simson Garfinkel, Technology Review, November 2001
The discrepancy can't be written off simply as lack of data, because it shows up in one of the best-studied periods in Earth's history …
—Tim Appenzeller, Science, 12 Feb. 1993
Discrepancies in the firm's financial statements led to an investigation.
There were discrepancies between their accounts of the accident.
Recent Examples on the Web
When there were errors, discrepancies or missing information, the report found claims could take on average over 100 days to go through.
—Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 12 Feb. 2025
The discrepancy has driven up demand for the current generation in places like Japan.
—Chris Lau, CNN, 6 Feb. 2025
Scammers often use this pretext to explain the discrepancy between the names on the accounts.
—Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 4 Feb. 2025
Browsing this cosmic photo album, the team noticed a small discrepancy.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 28 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discrepancy
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Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 12 Feb. 2025
The discrepancy has driven up demand for the current generation in places like Japan.
—Chris Lau, CNN, 6 Feb. 2025
Scammers often use this pretext to explain the discrepancy between the names on the accounts.
—Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 4 Feb. 2025
Browsing this cosmic photo album, the team noticed a small discrepancy.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 28 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discrepancy
Cite this Entry
“Discrepancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discrepancy. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
discrepancy
noun
dis·crep·an·cy
dis-ˈkrep-ən-sē
plural discrepancies
1
: the quality or state of being different : disagreement
a great discrepancy between the two reports
2
: something that is different or that disagrees
discrepancies in the firm's financial statements
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